Don't Look at Me Like That
by JadedNightingale2308
Summary: Kit had been crazy all her life, but when she winds up in the world of her favorite show she finds out she might not have been the person she thought she was. Traveling alongside the Elric Brothers, can she figure out who she really is and can Ed help her break out of her lonely, angry shell? Follows Brotherhood. EdXOC
1. 1: I Didn't Like My Life Anyway

Hey guys! So I'm back with a new Fullmetal Alchemist fanfiction. I'm so excited! First off, I want to say thank you to TasiaToxic for all of her amazing help. She has been absolutely fantastic and this story wouldn't be here right now without her help. This story will be set in Brotherhood and will be following the show, which will be obvious once I actually get to a chapter that involves the show, which will be next chapter, but I thought I should mention it for anyone looking for a fic based off the 2003 anime. I'm also going to flip-flop between people's perspectives sometimes so if you don't like that, heads up. Anyways, I'm going to try not to ramble a whole bunch like I normally do with anything ever so I'm just going to say don't forget to review! Reviews make me happy and let me know how you guys like it so review! Did I mention the reviews? I am going to make one note before I let you guys read though (if you even decided to read this so if you did, good for you): Inner monologues in Alice's voice are going to be written _**like this **_and ones in Kit's voice are going to be written _like this_. I just want to clear up any confusion, although I'm sure you're confused right now about what I mean. But you'll see. Alright! Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1: I Didn't Like My Life Anyway

~ Kit's Perspective ~

"_**You're an idiot**__."_

"_Gee, thanks. Did you just figure that out? Dumbass."_ I groaned loudly as I attempted to move my forearm from its position over my eyes. I quickly discovered that the lights on my ceiling were far too bright to deal with, but I was far too exhausted to get up and turn them off, so I left my arm lying over my face. How could I be _this_ sick? I never got sick. It was probably out of sheer willpower because getting sick had never been an option in my life, and the fact that I had now been sick for over two weeks was frustrating and nerve wracking. My head was pounding like a horse had trampled over it and I was disgustingly sweaty. I couldn't breathe more than just a little and, when I tried, I felt an incredibly uncomfortable stabbing pain in my chest. This couldn't be happening to me. I refused to acknowledge it. Maybe if I ignored it, it would go away. Except that never worked, because I had tried it on every foster kid and parent I had ever met and they all still existed, unfortunately and annoyingly. Life would be so much easier if everything would just go away, including this… Whatever I had.

"_**Don't call me a dumbass. You're the dumbass, dumbass. Stop being such a dumbass and go to the doctors already.**__"_

"_Do you actually know any other words other than dumbass?"_ I couldn't help but roll my eyes, which I instantly regretted as my head started to throb again. _"Fucking hell. Why the hell do you even care, Alice? You've never cared before."_

"_**Because, you idiot, I can't live in a body that's dead. Trust me, my life would be a million times better if I didn't have to deal with your incompetence so it's in my best interest to make sure my host stays alive.**__"_

"_Stop calling me a host."_ With some struggle, I managed to roll over onto my side. I was slightly more comfortable, but now a wave of nauseas was passing through my stomach. The downside to never being sick: you forget how terrible it is and how debilitating it can be. _"You make it sound like your some stupid alien, instead of just an annoying voice in my head. And you know as well as I do that I can't go to a doctor, even if I wanted to."_

I didn't have the money to afford a doctor. And I didn't have any medical insurance because no one cares enough about foster kids, especially this one, to make sure they get taken care of. No money and no insurance equals no doctor. Why couldn't Alice understand that? _"Besides, maybe it's better this way. Maybe this cold will kill me and I can move on for once."_

Her voice, as loud and clear as a bell as ever, sounded frustrated in my head. _"__**Stupid, you probably have pneumonia now. But if you're going to die, then at the very freaking least you should let me out so I can have some fun while we're still kicking.**__"_

"No, Alice, I'm not letting you out so you can maul someone else," I made it a point to say this out loud and not just mentally, though I could hear in my voice how utterly crappy and raspy I sounded, so that she knew I was serious. _"The last time you slipped out, you almost broke a kid's nose and that is not okay. Can't you just behave for once? Just once, in your entire life?"_

"_**What would be the fun in that, Jo? Behaving is for wimps like you. Fine, but if you're going to be a bump on a log, then at least go to sleep so I don't have to hear you whining anymore.**__"_

"_I don't want to sleep. And I wish you wouldn't call me that." _I had been trying to avoid sleeping lately. Whenever I did sleep, I had these weird dreams about a tall grey slab of stone and a white room with a white figure standing in the middle with a creepy smile on its face. I had been dreaming about Truth, the figure of God of Fullmetal Alchemist. I won't lie; Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood was my favorite anime and I had seen it about four times and sometimes I had the occasional dream about it, usually about Ed, but not like this. Two months ago, I had dreamed about Truth. And ever since, every time I fell asleep I would dream about Truth again. I had tried focusing on something else, but it didn't work. And it freaked me out a little bit. Maybe I was just imagining things, but every time I had that dream, the same dream over and over again, it seemed to get more vivid, more real. It wasn't like I had never had recurring dreams before. I was more than familiar with them. But there was something different about these.

"_Now that I'm thinking about it, I might as well watch some FMA."_ There wasn't much I could do to cheer me up in the crappy state I was in, but watching the Elric brothers always made me feel just a little bit better. Taking a deep breath, which was difficult with my throat as swollen and scratchy as it was, I reluctantly pulled my arm off my face and used it to help prop myself up on my bed. Even with my eyes still closed, the fluorescent lights in my bedroom made my headache worse. I made a mental note to turn the light off before I started watching an episode, as I made the effort to drag my legs off the bed and place my feet on the floor.

"_**Do we have to watch that crap again? You're always watching it. Find another obsession already.**__"_

"_How many times do I have to tell you it's not an obsession? I just like the show. What do you have against it, anyway? You never told me."_ Before she could answer, a girl only slightly younger than me walked into the room. "Ah, Rebekah, what the hell do you want?" Unfortunately for me, I had to share the room with this brat. That was one of the sad facts of foster care: it was a miracle if you were placed in a home where you got your own room. And, being who I was, I had never had a decent roommate in my life and Rebekah was no different. She left me alone for the most part so she was slightly better than some of the other people I'd had to endure rooming with, but I hated her nonetheless. I hated everyone, really.

The blonde took a moment to look to stare at me, and I could tell by the scrunch of her nose and the frown of her mouth that she thought I looked disgusting. "Are you sick?" There was no concern or compassion in her voice, unless you counted the concern she obviously felt for herself being in my presence. She didn't even wait for me to respond before reaching over to the end table on her side of the room and pumping some hand sanitizer from her industrial sized bottle into her hands and making a show of cleansing herself. "Just don't get your germs all over my stuff, freak. _I'm_ too busy to get sick like you."

"**Can I kill her? She has a nice nail file hidden in her one drawer. I've seen her using it on her stubby, fat fingers. I could slit her throat real easy. Imagine the blood, pouring out of her neck and over that stupid yellow shirt…**" Alice's voice was laughing in my head, loud and cold, and I didn't doubt, not that I ever doubted, that she meant it. She always meant it.

"Shut up already," I sighed, both to Alice and to Rebekah. Alice snarled at me, audible to no one but my mind. Rebekah narrowed her eyes at me, obviously insulted, but that was nothing new. She pretty much saw my entire existence as an insult to her. "I'll ask you again, Rebekah. What the hell do you want, or did you just come upstairs to complain about me touching your stuff? FYI, I wouldn't want to touch your stuff even if you paid me."

"Maggie says you need to get off your lazy ass and go downstairs to help with the chores," she spat out with such disdain that I could almost feel it. "I don't know why she wants the help of someone as worthless as _you_, though. You'll only mess everything up."

"_**Please let me kill her.**__"_

I could feel Alice pushing against the barriers of my mind, struggling to get herself free and I mentally shoved back. _"No."_ With some effort, I rose to my feet, wobbling slightly. "Screw off, Rebekah." Oh, how I wanted to say more than that and, in my head, I had a whole slew of insults to throw at her. But I didn't have the energy to deal with it.

On my way out of the bedroom, I made sure to slap my hand on the light switch, contaminating the surface with all of my filthy germs, as Rebekah would have claimed. I felt pure satisfaction as I walked down the hallway, listening to her pump the hand sanitizer again and knowing that she was wiping the disinfectant all over the wall there.

There was no way in hell I was going to stay in the house, not with Maggie on one of her frequent chore rampages and me feeling like walking death. Maggie was the foster "mother" of the house. I say mother lightly, because there was nothing motherly about her. She was large and loud, and only viewed foster kids as a meal ticket from the state. In short, she acted like more of a vicious army general than a parent to lost and lonely children. But nothing would ever be done about it. New Jersey just didn't care enough, and neither did the country.

After thinking about my very few options for a moment as I walked down the stairs to the first floor, I decided to go out for a walk. It was the middle of October, so the weather had an annoying chill to it and logic told me that I should probably stay inside with my cold. Alice was probably right about the fact that it had probably turned into pneumonia by now. But what other choice did I have? Besides, it wasn't like I was going to get any better hanging around here. I wasn't even going to put a coat on, not that I had an adequate coat for cold weather anyway, and if the pneumonia was going to kill me then I wasn't going to bother delaying the inevitable.

"_**You're so morbid.**__"_

Before I could tell Alice to shut up, I heard thundering footsteps coming up from behind me. And I was so close to the front door. "And _where_ do you think _you're_ going?" Maggie bellowed in her obnoxious voice, causing my ear drums to cringe. The funny thing is I was pretty sure that the gargantuan thought she was talking in a normal voice, because her yelling voice was about ten times louder.

Turning around with an inward sigh, I stuffed my hands into the pockets of my jeans and gave my typical blank stare. "I'm going out, Maggie. The fuck do you want?"

"You will not use that language in my house!" she practically screamed. She really hated foul language.

Which, really, only made my life more interesting. "Aw, fuck," I said, pulling my hand out of my pocket long enough to snap my fingers in pretend disappointment. "Guess I can't say fuck anymore." The way her face turned as red as a tomato gave me pleasure and told me that I had stepped on about twelve nerves. "Look, Big Bertha, we all know you don't want me here and, to be brutally honest, I don't really want to be here either. I don't like you much, and I know you can't stand me. So don't bother trying to tell me I can't go out. And don't ask me to do your stupid chores, because I ain't gonna do them."

"You worthless little scumbag!" she hollered again, as if it would phase me. "When your careless attitude gets you killed one day, I'm going to laugh over your coffin at your funeral. Go, but don't expect the door to be open for you when you come back." With that, she thundered off down the hall once more to bark at some other kids.

"Fine," I grumbled after her. "Laugh at my coffin. Like I care. I don't like my life much anyway."

"_**I don't know why you won't let me kill her. The world would thank you,**__" _Alice sighed, her voice echoing inside my head.

"_Because then we would be dealing with much worse than just getting moved to a new home and I don't feel like going to jail." _It was true, though. We, or I technically, would be getting picked up by my social worker probably later today or tomorrow and moved to a new home, most likely a few towns away. They kept hoping that by putting me in homes in towns where no one knew me, I might turn a new leaf and suddenly become this nice, caring person they always told me I was. You would think, after fifteen years, they would have stopped trying to believe that. I was never going to accept foster homes, because foster homes were never going to accept me. But no matter how much I despised the whole process, I would be getting moved again. Maggie hated me and part of me was surprised she hadn't gotten rid of me already. I had been there for almost two months so far. Like every home I'd been in before, I had been anticipated before I even stepped foot the house. I was fairly infamous in the foster care circle. My social worker liked to tell me how lucky I was that he could even find homes for me anymore, and I knew he was telling the truth. And I would hear it again when I saw him later, because there was no doubt in my mind he would come to collect me soon. Not only did Maggie and I loathe each other, but I had punched one of the foster kids in the face two days ago; a boy not much older than me named Jake. Well, I should say that Alice punched him, because I had no control over it. Not that I really feel bad, because I couldn't stand the kid and he had stepped on a nerve so he really had it coming, but I hated the idea that I had let Alice slip.

You see, for as long as I can remember, my mind hasn't really been my mind. I shared it with Alice. Don't ask me to explain what she was because even I had no idea. All I knew was that I had never been without her. She was a voice in my head that never went away. I liked to think that I had that multiple-personality disorder that you hear about sometimes on television, except I wasn't even sure about that. In every case I had ever heard about, the other personalities blacked out and couldn't remember what was going on when one personality was in charge. Except Alice always knew what was going on, and when I slipped and she took control, I could see and remember what she was doing.

It wasn't like it even mattered. People either thought I was crazy, or they thought I was looking for attention. It had been that way my whole life. No one had ever believed me. I grew up alone, with Alice stuck in my head. I would say she was my only friend in my entire life, except we hated each other. She was evil, rotten to the core. She always wanted to hurt people. When I was six, before I had learned how to control my mind and keep her locked up, she had gotten out and she broke a little boy's arm. And everyone thought I had done it on purpose because no one would believe that the voice in my head had done it. Now I was fifteen, and I had learned how to keep her shut inside, but sometimes she still managed to slip out, especially when I wasn't feeling well.

Normally, I would feel bad for letting her get the better of me and punch Jake in the face. But I couldn't. I didn't know what was wrong with me lately. I had always been an outcast, a loner, but I still had feelings. But lately I couldn't find them. All I could feel was this empty void inside of me, this sucking sort of feeling. Like it was pulling me towards something, but I didn't know what.

"_**You're being overdramatic. Besides, that kid deserved it. You know, if you let me out more often, people might believe you about not being crazy.**__"_

"_Don't look at me like that, Alice."_

"_**I can't look at you. You have my eyes, dumbass.**__"_

"_I can feel you looking at me_._"_ It was true. Even though she was just a voice in my head, I could feel her feelings. I could sense her emotions, her intentions, feel her movements in my head like when she rolled her hypothetical eyes or sighed with her non-existence mouth. I could feel her eyes, if she had any, staring at me as plainly as if she were standing right in front of me.

The wind blew, giving me a chill in the already damp and frosty air. Considering it was the middle of the day on a Saturday, there wasn't anyone around me on the street. I guess it wasn't so surprising. The town wasn't very big, so even on busy days there was hardly anyone out. As I walked down the sidewalk, past a number of little shops on the side that I had become quite familiar with on my daily adventures, suddenly everything started to spin out of focus. I could feel myself wobbling and see the sidewalk rushing up at me, but I couldn't make my arms throw themselves in front of me to stop my fall.

For a brief second, I could see an image of Truth in my head, laughing at me with that wide grin on his face. Then everything went black.

* * *

><p>Hope you guys liked it! The next chapter should be up in a few days hopefully, and I'm so excited. Don't forget to review!<p> 


	2. 2: You've Met with a Terrible Fate

I hope you all liked chapter 1! FYI, I changed my Pen Name from NerdieGirl26 to JadedNightingale2308 because I couldn't stand my old one anymore. Thank you to the Guest reviewer "2 lazy 2 login" (your guest name made me laugh so thank you for that as well) for being the first to review. I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see the first review on a story because it means that someone out there liked it. I like how you described it as morbid :) I hope that was supposed to be a compliment, because I took it as one. Not that the other reviews aren't important, because every review I get is amazing and very dear to me but the first review, to me, shows me that at least one person is going to read it and it allows me to move on with writing the story knowing that someone likes it and that I'm not just writing it for me. Thank you also to everyone who followed or favorited the story because it means a lot since the first chapter didn't have much to it other than Kit and Alice doing a lot of bickering. Also thanks to justaislinn and AveryScarlet for reviewing! Also, just a notice, as "2 lazy 2 login" said, the language is rather vulgar. I'll be dropping lots of f-bombs throughout, because that's the kind of characters Kit and Alice are, so if you don't like foul language then thi smight not be for you. I'm going to get on with the chapter now so don't forget to review and everything else because I love to know what you guys are thinking, what you like and what you don't like, and that you guys are enjoying. Anyway, onwards!

Chapter 2: You've Met with a Terrible Fate, Haven't You?

~Kit's Perspective~

The first thing I was aware of was pain, a massive amount of pain. Everywhere.

The second thing I was aware of was the bright light. My eyes were closed but I could sense the light behind the shadows of my eyelids.

Why was everything so bright? The lights in my room weren't _that_ bright, although Rebekah liked to complain that they were. I was cold, so it couldn't be the sun because there would be at least some semblance of heat. Was I in a hospital? It was the only place I could think of with lights like that. But why would I be in a hospital?

And then it came rushing back to me: the fight with Maggie, the cold I was suffering from, seeing Truth from Fullmetal Alchemist and then everything going black.

Was I dead?

"_**Get up, you lazy asshat.**__"_

"_Shut up, Alice. You're obnoxious voice is giving me a migraine."_

"_**Well, you're talking and I'm still here, so I guess that means you aren't dead.**__"_

"_I'm pretty sure I'm not de-"_

"_**Unless, of course, we're both dead and this is hell, which makes sense because hell for me would be getting stuck with you for an eternity. Damn it, Jo, you're so stupid. If you had just gone to the fucking doctor like I told you to, I wouldn't be stuck in hell with you!**__"_

"_Wait a freaking minute." _My head felt like it was going to pop. Why did her voice have to be so grating? To make matters worse, every part on my body throbbed, even places I didn't know could throb, and I felt nauseas, like I was going to vomit any minute now. "Why the fuck am I going to hell? If anyone is going to hell it's you, you homicidal psychopath."

"I'm insulted that you think you're in hell. It's not so bad."

I froze, every muscle in my body stiffening and then screaming in protest. I instinctively tried to hop to my feet, getting ready for a fight like so many other times in my life, but everything in my sight began to spin and the farthest I could get was a sitting position. _"I know that voice…"_

With a deep breath, and an ache in my lungs, I looked around the room for the first time. There were no walls and, although I was clearly sitting on _something_, there was no floor. Everything was pure white; whiter than a cloud. _"I know this place…"_ Everything looked like a giant white blob, in my unfocused eyes. "This isn't possible."

"Why am I not surprised? Of course those would be the first words out of little Josephine's mouth."

Knowing that I had to look eventually, I turned my head to the side. The surprise I felt was enough to make me almost puke. Sitting in front of me, only a few feet away from where I sat, was a body. A body white as the area around me, with nothing but a black shadow around it to give it the form of a human—no, _my_ form—and nothing on its face but a large toothy grin… It was Truth, from Fullmetal Alchemist. "No, no, no," I said instantly, my voice sounding weird and weak to me. "This isn't possible. I must be dreaming."

Its grin faded into a frown and, although it had no eyes or facial features, I could sense the disapproving look it was giving me. Was Truth an it, or was it a he? How could I even be asking that question? "Josephine, Josephine, oh, little Josephine." The name was like fire to my ears. I hated that name. And deep down I knew this annoying little shit was only calling me it because it—he?—because I couldn't stand it. "Of course you would reject it. Nothing good can ever happen in your life, can it? Abandoned at birth, brought up in foster care with no one to love you, called crazy all because you heard voices in your head and, yet, no one believed you even though they called you insane."

"Shut up!" He'd pinched a nerve, I hated to admit. I didn't like it when people acted like they knew me better than I knew myself. "Shut up! And don't call me that!"

"You're so willing to accept that nothing in your life will go right, that you can't even believe this might be truly happening." The grin had returned and he tilted his head to the side. "Oh, little lion, you've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?"

I snorted, still staring at him. This had to be a dream, because Truth wasn't real. Except, if this was a dream, then why did I hurt so much? _"__**I don't think this is a dream, Jo.**__"_

"She's right."

I couldn't help but raise my eyebrow partially in surprise. "You can hear Alice?" No one had ever been able to hear Alice before. I guess it made sense, since Truth was technically supposed to be God or whatever, which kind of sucked for me since I didn't believe in God and now here he was. For the first time in a long time, I felt a little twinge of excitement. "Wait," I said, sounding a little rushed. "If you can hear her, does that mean she's actually there? I'm not just hearing things?"

Truth nodded and part of me felt relieved, although a large part of me didn't want to believe him. "Alice is indeed there in your mind, Kitty Cat. You're not crazy. Although, at the end, you might wish you were."

That didn't make any sense, but I decided not to question it. I had a feeling he wouldn't tell me what he meant anyway. I was going to wait for him to continue talking, but a thought hit me suddenly. If Truth was supposed to be God or the World or whatever else he called himself, then why was I seeing him? I hadn't opened a portal or anything, not that I was aware of. Something didn't feel right. "How is this happening? How am I seeing you?"

"_Now_ you start to ask the important questions!" Truth sounded pleased, like he had been waiting for the thought to occur to me. "Bad news: you're dead."

Those two words hit me like a sack of bricks. Dead? How could I be dead? I could feel Alice's presence there in my head, but she was staying quiet. Had she known that all along? Why didn't she seem surprised?

Truth must have taken my silence as a cue to continue because he went on. "Since you never went to a doctor like Alice suggested, your cold developed into pneumonia." I could feel a smug attitude coming from her and I knew she was just waiting to rub it in my face. "And then your pneumonia became so severe that you were going to die anyway if you didn't get help. But you didn't and, when you collapsed in the street, you ended up smacking your head on the sidewalk. So not only did you have fatal pneumonia but you also had a concussion. But the real kicker? People _left_ you there. Not that there were that many people on the street, but one or two people did see you. And they left you there to die. I have to say, little lion, it has been some time since I've seen anyone who people despised as much as you. That has to hurt."

I won't lie; it did sting a little bit. But I wasn't surprised. I had learned not to expect much from people. "So I'm dead?" I asked, cutting right to the chase. I didn't need some white blobby jackass to tell me how pathetic my life was.

"Basically." Before I could ask what the hell he meant by that, because I did not consider basically dead as fully dead, he kept talking. "Eventually, someone did call an ambulance for you. Some kind old lady who took pity on your half-dead carcass and called 9-1-1. Unfortunately for you, you're in such severe condition that they won't be able to save you. Right now, you're lying in the intensive care unit at a hospital and they're hoping they can save you, but they won't be able to. So I say basically, but only because you haven't died _just _yet. But you will. There's nothing that can be done about that."

"_**Dumbass. I told you to go to the fucking doctor. Now you're doing to die, and I'm going to die with you. I told you. Holy crap, how did I get stuck with such a reject?**__"_

"_Shut up, Alice. At least now I can get rid of your annoying bodiless ass."_

The look of amusement was clear on Truth's face, even though all he had was a mouth. He was enjoying this. "But I can give you a choice: life or death. Because you see, Josephine, you were never meant to live in the world you knew. You never belonged there. It wasn't your world."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" I was peeved now. "Enough with the riddles, whitey. Just tell me what the hell you're talking about."

"Straight-forward, I like it." He grinned as he laughed, his voice echoing off non-existent walls around us. "But it's not a riddle. It's the truth. You never belonged there. I know you felt it." He wasn't wrong. All my life I had felt like I never belonged anywhere. I had blamed foster care and the fact that I was always moving around. And I had blamed Alice for turning me into an outcast. But deep down I had always known that, somehow, I never belonged and, honestly, I probably would have been an outcast even without Alice. The sucking void feeling I've had lately was just further proof of all that. "Lucky for you, there is a place you do belong. Don't ask me where; I won't tell you right now. But what I can tell you is that you have a choice, Josephine Kittinger. You can choose death, and choose to give up your life. Or you can choose life, and I'll send you to the world where you do belong to live out a new life of your choosing. What will it be?"

I was quiet for a moment and I forced myself to tune out Alice yelling _"__**Choose life!**__"_ in my head. I didn't belong in my world, on Earth? What did that even mean? According to Truth, I belonged somewhere entirely different. I could choose to go and live there, or I could choose to just let myself die and not deal with it anymore. As far as I was concerned, both choices sucked. On the one hand, I would die and never exist again. But, if I chose life, I would be stuck in a world and in a life that was potentially worse than what I had. It could be better, I'll admit, but what were the chances of that? I didn't like the odds. I had suffered all my life, being alone and tormented by everyone who knew me, and I didn't want to live another life where things were the same.

A few minutes of silence had passed, with Truth staring at me with that creepy grin on his face the whole time, before I finally spoke. "I choose death. I never liked my life, and I doubt I'll be fond of a new one, so I choose to not deal with life and people who do nothing but let you down anymore."

For the first time, I saw a spark of surprise on his face. "I have to say, Kitty Cat, I wasn't expecting you to choose that. I almost feel bad for saying this now, but you can't actually choose that option."

"What?" my voice rose several notches in anger and I was tempted to throttle him, but I was too sore and tired to move. "What the hell do you mean I can't choose it? Then why did you give me the fucking choice?" There was nothing I hate more than people who lied about their intentions.

"I didn't lie," he said calmly, as if reading my thoughts. "I never said I would kill you now. I just said you could choose to die if you wanted to. You have to die in your own world. It's a rule and, yes, I have rules I have to follow as well. So, regardless of what you want, I'm going to send you to the world you truly belong in. It'll be your choice whether you live or die. If you die, then I'll have no option but to let you stay dead. But you better be ready to make that choice. You won't be able to go back once you die."

I was fuming and I wanted to yell at him, to threaten him until he honored my decision, but I didn't know how to threaten God. Before I could figure it out, there was a loud slam behind me. In the back of my mind, I knew what that sound was, but I looked over my shoulder anyway.

Several feet behind me was the large, grey slab of stone that made up the Gate of Truth, and the doors had just been thrown open. Out of the dark abyss, the thin black arms and hands I knew so well from the show, whatever they were called, shot out at me. I couldn't have gotten away if I had wanted to. I felt them twist around me and I didn't even have the energy to fight against them as they dragged me back into the shadows of the gate.

The doors closed shut in front of me, slowly cutting off Truth's face from my vision, and for a brief moment I floated in absolute darkness. Suddenly light burst out of nowhere, lighting up my vision like fireworks. Pictures and filmstrips appeared and began flying past me and, as every picture passed, it filled my head until my mind felt like it was going to pop. Alice was screaming.

Just when I thought I couldn't take anymore, they disappeared and I faded into darkness once again.

~X~

~3rd Person Perspective~

A girl, unconscious, was lying in the middle of the alley.

"_**Get up, Jo! You can't just lay there! Kit, get up!**__"_

Alice's screaming in her head was enough to make Kit stir and, slowly, she opened her eyes. She was no longer in the Gate of Truth and was instead lying on the ground, staring up at the bleak grey sky. Rain was pouring down on top of her, making her chills worse to the point where she was visibly shaking. Her vision was still swimming and everything was slowly spinning around her.

"_**Get your ass up and go find help before you die again!**__"_

"_What's the point, Alice? I feel worse than I did before. I'm probably just going to kick the bucket again, and at least Truth said he would let me stay dead, so maybe that's better."_ Despite the words she was saying to Alice, Kit attempted to stand up, if only to appease the screaming voice in her head. She slipped a few times on the wet, muddy ground, making everything ache more than it had been already, but eventually she succeeded in getting to her feet.

"_**Good. At least you're functioning. Now go find help. I don't feel like dying today, dumbass.**__"_

Groaning, Kit started to move her feet, though she could hardly feel them, and she kept one hand on the alley wall to keep herself standing. She coughed deeply, feeling it throughout her entire body. She was tempted to just fall over on the ground again, but she didn't want to listen to Alice yell at her anymore so she kept moving.

She had almost made it to the corner of the wall she was using as support when two people came running around the same corner. The shorter boy crashed into her, knocking them both to the ground. Kit groaned in pain and looked up to see her assailant, her eyes widening in shock when she saw him. Her vision was blurry at best but even in her unfocused eyes she could tell who he was. It was a boy about her age, with blonde braided hair and yellow eyes to match. Next to him, standing up, was a tall figure in a suit of armor. _"Edward Elric, and Al?"_

"_**Who gives a fuck? You still need to get help or you're going to die.**__"_

"Are you okay?" Ed was asking the girl he had just run into. "Where did you come from?"

"Brother, she doesn't look very good," Al noticed as he bent down to help Ed pull the girl to her feet.

The alley wall next to them lit up with Scar's alchemy before they could do anything else. Ed grabbed her, pulling her out of the way with him so they wouldn't get crushed. "Ow…" Ed grumbled, picking himself back up. He glanced at the girl he had just saved, noticing how pale she looked and how bad she was shaking. She didn't seem to be in any condition to run away, but he couldn't continue to protect her without risking getting himself or Al hurt. Hopefully, the man after them wouldn't notice her or go after her. "You should get out of here before you get hurt," he told her anyway, hoping she might be able to get out of there somehow.

Ed looked to his other side just in time to see the man in the yellow jacket standing at the end of the alley. "Who the hell are you? Why are you after us?"

"Think of it this way: if there is someone who created you, then there is someone who will destroy you, as well."

"Looks like there's no getting out of this," Ed sighed, knowing he and Al would have to fight the strange man. Clapping his hands, he transmuted the pipe next to him and, casting one last glance at the girl, got up to fight.

Kit lied there for a moment, trying to muster the energy to get up. She could hear them, Ed and Al, fighting Scar. "This has to be a dream…" she mumbled to herself. Taking a deep breath, she forced herself into a sitting position and used the debris behind her to stand. _"I have to wake up."_

She heard a crash and watched as part of Al's metal body was destroyed by Scar and he fell against the wall. _"Where are Mustang and his men? Shouldn't they be here?"_

"_**Wherever they are, it isn't our problem. Don't get involved.**__"_

Kit was almost at the end of the alley now. "Brother, run!" Al shouted. She looked up just in time to see Scar destroy Ed's arm, and Ed was trying to scurry backwards away from him.

"_They should be here by now. Shouldn't they? I can't even remember…"_

At the end of the alley now, she saw Scar advancing on Ed, ready to kill the blonde alchemist. _"This doesn't feel right…"_

"_**Don't get involved. Damn it, Jo, don't do it.**__"_

Ignoring the voice in her head, Kit mustered up a small burst of energy and hobbled her way over to the two men. "Don't do it," she tried to yell at Scar, but her voice came out as hardly more than a whisper. Regardless of how she felt, Kit stood in front of Scar with her arms out as far as she could manage, which wasn't very far in her state, but the look on her face was as defiant as ever.

"What do you think you are doing, girl?" the Ishvalan glared down at her, snarling. "This isn't your battle. Begone." Kit didn't have the strength to say any more, but she refused to budge. "Girl, if you don't get out of my way, I will be forced to cut you down as well."

Behind her, Ed was yelling at her to get out of the way and save herself, but she couldn't hear anything else. She was beginning to slip.

Sensing the danger they were in, Alice sighed inside of Kit's mind. _"__**Idiotic brat.**__" _With no other choice or option to save her weak host, Alice forced Kit's consciousness into the back of their mind and took control.

Kit's body didn't have much energy left but Alice's mind was still functioning and, at the very least, she was aware of what was going on. Scar had started moving his hands towards her and, to stop him from harming their body, Alice grabbed his wrists. Using the last bit of their strength, she managed to hold Scar back, growling at him, "You will not hurt us. You're lucky I'm running low on energy because what I wouldn't give to rip you apart right now and watch your blood flow through the streets. You think you're fucked up, you can't even imagine what I would do." She enjoyed the surprised look he gave her, knowing that no one ever thought a girl like her was capable of such things.

She noticed movement off to the side and glanced towards it, seeing at least a dozen cars pulling up. "Finally." Knowing that Scar wouldn't be able to do any damage to her now that the Mustang idiot and his cronies from the show were there, Alice let the rest of the energy drain from their body.

She cast Edward Elric, still sitting there bewildered on the ground, a sidelong glance as she began to collapse. "You better not let me die, kid…"

* * *

><p>And things just got interesting! We got to see some of Kit's spunk and some of her morbid nature, and some of Alice's character outside of Kit's head. The next chapter will be much more interesting, I think, so I can't wait to post it! Don't forget to review!<p> 


	3. 3: So, that Happened

And we're back! Are you excited? Because I am! Every time I write one of these little introductions (which I will basically do before every chapter, btw, just to let you know what's going on in my life if life has decided to get in my way of writing, to say thanks to people, and other things) I feel like an announcer at a big game or something. Sorry it took so long to get this up. School is kicking my ass. I officially have one month left in the semester, guys! Whoot! Well, one month of classes. Then there's finals week, which I suppose puts the semester just over another month, but whatever. But that means that classes will be wrapping up their work and assigning any papers they have left to assign. I know right now I have a paper due in my Modern Lit class in the beginning of December, and a paper due for my American Lit class on November 20th. Not to mention a giant task I still have to do for my Education class (I'm studying to be an English Teacher). That probably sounds ridiculously boring to you but my point is that things might be a bit slow for the next month. I'm still working on this, of course, but my updates might go a little slower. Don't worry! I'm still here! And I still love this and you guys so I'll still be updating, but I can't promise any sort of schedule.

Reviews! Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed or followed or favorite'd or all of the above. You are all awesome and lovely and perfect. Thank you to justaislinn, RinTheMagicalGirl, Dedmutt, and 2 lazy 2 login for reviewing! And, as always, thanks to TasiaToxic for being awesome and for helping me with this fic. Without her, this story wouldn't be here.

**Justaislinn**: That is my bad :P You were the first to review. I'm so sorry! Ughhh I'm such a failure! I went by the order that I got my email alerts for the reviews in and my email hates me so I received the email alert for "2 lazy 2 login" first before I got the alert for yours so I just assumed that it was in the correct order (because the email for your review didn't come in until hours after you reviewed) but apparently it wasn't and I should have checked. But thank you for being the first to review! Granted, I love all my reviewers equally and the order that you guys review in doesn't affect how much you all mean to me but I wanted to give a special thanks to the person who reviewed first and I messed it up! I fail, and I'm sorry! But I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far.

**Dedmutt**: I can't tell you how much I loved your review. Unfortunately, I don't really have anything else I'm working on right now besides this but feel free to check out that Criminal Minds fic I have up, but I don't know when I'm going to be able to work on that again. I do have other fics in the work but they aren't even being written yet (still in the planning stage). It means a lot that I have ruined your FMA experience. I enjoy ruining things for other people. Does that make me a terrible person? Probably. I don't plan on stopping, so no worries there, lovely :D Also, I would love some pancakes. Pancakes make me happy, especially if they have chocolate chips.

I'm going to get on with the story now, so enjoy and don't forget to review (which I'm sure you won't forget because you guys are AWESOME and I love you).

Chapter 3: So, That Happened

~3rd Person~

"Who do you think she is, Brother?" Al, stuck sitting in a box due to his destroyed armor, asked Ed, who was sitting on a chair off to his side.

Ed shrugged, never taking his eyes off the girl lying in the hospital bed in front of them. "She's suspicious."

When Scar had attacked them the night before, he and Al had run into this girl, whoever she was, in the alley they had turned into. Well, to be more specific, Ed had run into the girl. She had looked like walking death, with skin so pale she looked like a ghost, and she had been shaking worse than he had ever seen anyone shake. He had told her to run, but he had known she wasn't in any condition to do that so he and Al had fought Scar. After what Scar had said about only wanting to kill state alchemists, Ed was sure now that the Ishvalan wouldn't have hurt her. But after Scar had managed to blow Ed's automail arm to bits, the girl had gotten up and put herself between them. Ed still couldn't figure out why she had done that. To make things even stranger, the girl had threatened to kill Scar in a surprisingly violent way and then she had collapsed. But by the time she had passed out, Colonel Mustang and the cavalry had just arrived. They had chased Scar off, and they all decided the best course of action for the girl was to take her to the nearest hospital. She had been asleep all night and for most of the morning. Ed, who was basically useless until he could get his arm fixed, had decided that the girl was suspicious enough to warrant staying at the hospital until she woke up.

He had hardly taken his eyes off her since they got to the hospital, waiting impatiently for her to wake up so he could question her. She certainly didn't look threatening or like someone who should be suspicious but, then again, neither had Shou Tucker. Her skin had regained some color since she passed out, turning it from the ghostly white into an ivory sort of color, but he couldn't be sure if that was her normal skin color or if she was still somewhat pale from being sick. Her hair, which was partially caked in grime and dirt, was jet black in color and was about as long as her chest with a wave to it. There was a mole underneath her right eye and, if he was correct in what he had seen last night, her eyes were bright green. He hadn't seen too many green-eyed people in Amestris during his life. Truthfully, the only person he knew with green eyes was the Fuhrer. Even stranger than her appearance were her clothes. She had been wearing a plain black long-sleeved shirt, which wasn't out of the ordinary for people in Amestris, but he had never seen the fabric that her blue pants were made of. It was possible that the fabric was from somewhere other than Amestris, like Xing or Drachma, but where would she have gotten it from? Was she from outside of Amestris, a spy?

"I wish she would wake up already," Ed groaned loudly after sitting in silence for a few minutes. "There are questions to ask and we have to get back to Resembool."

As if on cue, the girl started to stir.

~X~

~Kit~

As my senses slowly started coming back to me, I was aware of an ache all over my body and of a light behind my eyelids. "Truth, you asshole, go away…" I grumbled. I had probably died. Scar had killed me, but at least now I could throttle Truth with a vengeance. "So tired of being in pain…"

"Then maybe you should stop passing out in alleyways and getting in the way of homicidal maniacs." I almost snorted. Homicidal maniacs were the least of my worries. I had lived with one in my head for 15 years, after all.

I sat up with a start, opening my eyes and regretting it as soon as I could see. The slight headache I'd had before intensified tenfold with the sudden movement and intake of light. That wasn't Truth's voice, or I should say my voice since the little shit mimicked people's voices. I knew who's voice that was, but did I dare to look? "Are you okay?" Damn it, I knew that voice too. This was impossible.

I took a breath and turned my head to the side. And, just like I had thought, Edward and Alphonse Elric were sitting only a few feet away from me. Technically, only Ed was sitting, since Al was in a giant box. _"Holy crap. Does that mean what happened was real? Scar was there? I'm in freaking FMA."_

"_**Stop freaking out. They already think you're suspicious as hell. Stop acting like a spaz, you idiot.**__"_

"_How do you know they think I'm suspicious? Never mind, that's a dumb question. You're still aware of things while I'm sleeping. Of course they would think I'm suspicious. I __**am**__ suspicious. Holy fuck, its Ed and Al. How is this real?"_

Without saying anything, I pinched myself. That's what people on TV did when they wanted to wake up from something. Except all I managed to do was make my arm sore, and I was still there. Did that mean this was real? Having a dream about Truth, and then one about Scar, and now one about Ed and Al was just a little too coincidental for me to believe that this was anything but real…

What had Truth said? Something about sending me to the universe that I belonged in? Did that mean I belonged in Amestris? How did that even make sense? Fuck you, Truth, for all your riddles. _"This isn't a dream, is it?"_

"'_**Fraid not, JoJo. This seems to be as real as your ugly face. For whatever reason, we're here and this is real. Now stop zoning out. They're going to think you're mentally challenged.**__"_

She was right. I couldn't read Al's face, since the expression on the suit of armor never changed, but Ed was giving me a look that made me think he thought I was a mute or something. He was also giving me one of his 'I don't trust you as far as I can throw you' looks. What was I going to do?

"Who are you?" I decided to ask. It seemed the most sensible question. I couldn't let on that I knew them. Not only would that seem really bizarre, but no one would ever believe that I was from a different universe, especially one where Fullmetal Alchemist was an anime. So I would just pretend that I was from this world. My gut told me that was the best choice.

"My name is Alphonse Elric," Al said first in a kind, comforting kind of voice. "And this is my brother, Edward Elric." Well, that shut down any ideas that they could be cosplayers. I was pretty sure a cosplayer would give their actual name. "What's your name?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but I stopped myself before I could say anything. Was it a good idea to give my real name? Was there any risk to it? I supposed not. I wasn't from this world. It was highly improbable, more like impossible, that anyone in Amestris would know who I was. "Kit." The moment I said it, Ed raised an eyebrow. Okay, so full name was apparently better. "Josephine Kittinger. But I go by Kit." Before they could ask why or prod me with any more questions, I asked one of my own. "What happened? To me, I mean."

"What do you remember?" It was Ed's turn to ask. He was still sitting in the same position, leaning forward slightly, and it looked like he wanted to cross his arms but he couldn't because he was missing one.

I went to run a hand through my hair and push it out of my face, but it was all crusted with mud and dirt and grime that I couldn't. I needed a shower badly. I glanced in the direction of the bathroom, but the door was closed and I couldn't tell if there was one in there. Did hospitals in Amestris have showers? I thought so, but I wasn't sure. I would find out later. "I remember waking up in the alley… And seeing you… And that guy who you were fighting. And that's it." It wasn't exactly a lie. That _was_ the last thing I could remember.

Ed, apparently having decided that he couldn't stand sitting anymore, stood up and started moving, almost pacing, around. "Well, for starters, you put yourself in the way of the guy who wanted to kill me. Why did you do that?"

"Are you complaining that I saved your life? Wow, ungrateful much?" I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes, but I enjoyed the frustrated look on Ed's face. He seemed to realize that he could have phrased his question better and said nothing. "I mean, no offense meant, but you were getting your ass handed to you. And I remember feeling very out of it and very, very crappy so I probably wasn't thinking clearly. I think I thought I was going to die anyway, or at least I definitely felt like I was going to die, so I figured I might as well save a life if I was going to kick the bucket."

I think both boys were taken back by my straightforward nature about it because they didn't say anything for a moment. "You threatened to kill the guy. I think the words you used were 'rip him apart.'"

I guess anyone would find that weird. _"You idiot. Not only did you take over, but you made me look like a serial killer. I could strangle you if you had a body."_

"_**Stop complaining. I totally saved your ass. You're the ass hat who decided to get in the way of an actual serial killer!**__"_

"_Shut up. Just shut up." _I merely shrugged. "Considering that the guy was _actually_ going to rip you apart, I just did whatever I thought would help. I don't think I really knew what I was saying, so…"

"Brother, stop interrogating her!" Al scolded Ed, causing the older brother to look away and pace some more. "She just woke up. Give her a break." Thank you, Al. I had a feeling if Al didn't say something then Ed would have continued asking me a bunch of questions. At least this gave me a chance to think of what I was going to say. "After you passed out, Kit, we brought you here, to a hospital, because you didn't look too good. The doctor who saw you said that you have pretty severe pneumonia and a concussion. He gave you some antibiotics for the pneumonia, and the concussion should go away on its own if you're careful."

I wasn't surprised about the concussion. My head definitely hurt like I had one. I knew the next question either of them would ask me was what had happened to me, but I wasn't sure how I was going to answer that yet. I needed another second to think. Would it look suspicious if I didn't answer the question right away? Ed would definitely think so. "Why are you in a box, if you don't mind me asking?" Of course, I already knew the answer but it would give me a second to think while Ed and Al tried to come up with a reasonable excuse.

I knew there was no way in hell I could tell them the truth. For one, they would never believe me. I'd probably get shipped off to some mental ward or something for the insane. For two, I couldn't tell them anything about what happened in the show because it could mess everything up. Not only was I a huge FMA fan, but I was also a Doctor Who nerd and I had learned all about timelines and shit from it. I mean, it was a fictional show so the stuff I had learned could be true or it could be complete crap but it made sense so I was going to stick with it. If they found out that I knew what was going to happen, they would want to know all sorts of things like when and if they got their bodies back. I couldn't tell them that. My telling them that they get their bodies back in the end could make them lazy, thinking that they're guaranteed to get their bodies back, and then they might not actually get them back. Things like that. So I couldn't tell them anything. And the best way to get out of not telling them anything was to make sure they didn't find out that I was from another universe where their life was a television show.

"_**So pretend you have amnesia. Or are you too stupid to think of that?**__"_

"_Amnesia? That would be the easiest route. You can't really prove that someone remembers or doesn't remember something."_

"_**Exactly. I'm a genius. No need to thank me. Now stop spacing out or they really are going to ship you off to a crazy place with padded walls.**__"_

Ed had decided to wander over to the wall near the bed I was lying on and lean against it. "So, what happened to you? You didn't just appear in that alley half-dead out of nowhere."

Except that's exactly what I did, Ed. If only I could tell him that. But they wouldn't believe me even if I didn't have to deal with all the messing up timelines and events stuff. So, instead, I acted like I was trying to recall what had happened to me, and let my eyes grow a little wide and my mouth frown like something was horribly wrong. "I… I don't know…"

"What do you mean you don't remember?" Ed asked, sounding slightly peeved. I could guarantee he thought I was hiding something.

"I mean I don't know!" I yelled partially, doing my best to sound hysterical. I thought it might seem strange if a girl who just woke up with no memories was calm about it. "I can't remember. I can't remember anything from before I woke up in that alley. It's all just… blank…"

Ed was staring at me with a skeptical look, trying to figure out whether I was lying or not. I was, but I had gotten pretty good at lying over the years so there was no way he was going to realize it. He opened his mouth, probably to accuse me of it, but the door to the room flew open suddenly, causing him to forget what he was going to say.

A large bald man in a blue uniform stepped into the room. I recognized him instantly and had to resist smiling. Major Alex Louis Armstrong was one of my favorite characters from the show. I had forgotten, in this chaos, that he had been assigned to watch over Ed and Al in their injured states. He looked at me and, noticing that I was awake, instantly grinned. "You are awake! This is fantastic! The doctors were not sure when you would wake up, but we are relieved to see that you are alright. What is your name, young miss?"

His voice was much more booming in person, but I had to say I was relieved to see he hadn't ripped his shirt off yet and offered to show me an example of prime physique to encourage my recovery, like he had done to Ed in the show. "I'm Kit," I said, my voice sounding incredibly weak in comparison with his. "Who are you?" Ha, as if I didn't already know.

"_**Don't get cocky. If you don't stay on your toes, you could slip up and then I'm pretty sure they're going to kill you.**__"_

"_They won't kill me, but you're probably right anyway. Ugh, I hate saying that."_

"My name is Alex Louis Armstrong, of the glorious Armstrong family!"

Al laughed a little, clearly used to the Major's antics, and shook his head. "You don't have to call him that. Everyone just refers to him as Major Armstrong." He looked up at the Major and explained, sounding somewhat sad, "Kit can't remember what happened to her. I think she has amnesia."

"Oh no!" Major Armstrong bellowed again, making me want to close my ears. I could feel Alice cringing in my head as well. "What a brave soul! Putting her life on the line to save the life of a boy she's never met! And then to not even be able to remember who she is! What a tragic fate!" I almost felt bad for deceiving the guy; he looked like he wanted to cry in the unfairness of my fake situation.

"How do you remember your name, then, if you can't remember who you are?" Ed's cynical voice rang out through the room, effectively silencing Major Armstrong.

Good question, Ed. But I had heard stories of people with amnesia who remembered their names but nothing else, so it made sense at least a little. But he was getting on my nerves with his disbelief of my situation. Not that my situation was real or anything and he had every right to not believe me, but still. What would I do if I really had amnesia and someone didn't believe me? "Listen, you short, little ass hat," I snapped. Ed and Major Armstrong looked surprised and slightly taken back. I don't think either of them were expecting me to get snippy with them. But it made sense for me to get cranky and overwhelmed. I stood up, so that I could see eye to eye with him and possibly look more intimidating. Although I was pretty sure I couldn't look intimidating at all in my grungy state of appearance. "Someone's name is not a memory. It is a piece of their identity and one that I apparently still know. So get off your high horse, pipsqueak, and accept that I don't remember anything because I really don't and that's all you're going to get out of me because that's all I can give you."

At the word pipsqueak, he twitched. "If I'm a pipsqueak, then what does that make you?" he asked, after a silent moment of being an angry short guy.

"What?" I didn't understand. But then I looked at the top of his head, at the stupid piece of hair he kept sticking up to make himself look taller, and I realized that he was roughly an inch taller than me. And I was furious. I had always figured I would be taller than him, especially in the beginning of the show, which this obviously was since they had just fought Scar for the first time. "Fucking hell! You asshole, you're taller than me."

Everything spun out of focus briefly and I wobbled. Out of a need to grab something to steady myself, I found myself clutching Ed's arm. The look on his face softened and he started to help me back down onto the bed. "Okay, alright, take it easy."

"Maybe we should give Miss Kit some time to herself," Major Armstrong suggested gently, giving me a smile. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I hated being called Miss. It was just a pet peeve, but I had a feeling that he would keep calling me it even if I did say something. "Colonel Mustang would like to see both of you in his office. This will allow Miss Kit to relax and get some rest. Maybe some of her memories will come back."

"You expect us to leave her here? By _herself_?" Of course, Ed wasted no time arguing.

"Oh, honestly," I sighed. I could feel my energy starting to drain from me. I was still sick, after all, and all of this was too much to take in without multiple naps. They all looked at me, waiting for me to continue. "Ed, right?" I asked, pretending that I didn't know who he was. In my state, I doubt that I would have remembered his name right off the bat I was actually in this situation. "Where the hell am I gonna go? I have a concussion and I can hardly see straight, not to mention the fact that I can hardly breathe and I kind of want to vomit and take a nap. I'm in no condition to leave the room, much less leave the fucking hospital. And I can't remember diddily squat so where am I going? I'd rather not just wander with nowhere to go. So go and see your… whoever. This Mustang man. Are you going to see a horse?" I started to laugh somewhat there. In all the years I had been watching FMA, it had never seemed as funny that Mustang was named after a horse as it was right then. Holy hell, I was tired.

"She's right, Brother," Al said once I had stopped laughing. "Besides, I doubt any of the doctors or nurses would let her leave in her condition. Stop being so stubborn."

Ed didn't say anything for a minute, looking back and forth between me and his brother, until he finally groaned. "Fine, whatever! Stop ganging up on me!" He looked at me one last time. "You better be here when we get back." I just rolled my eyes .

Major Armstrong patted me once on the shoulder, which almost knocked me off the bed, and then hoisted Al, in the box, up onto his shoulder and walked out the door. Ed, looking reluctant to leave even though he said it was fine, followed after them, closing the door behind him.

The first thing I did now that I was alone was grab the pillow off the bed and scream into it. "What in the ever loving _fuck_ is going on?" To be honest, I was surprised no one came back to see if I was okay after screaming like that. Guess they didn't care that much. _"So, that happened."_

"_**That little shit, treating you like you're a criminal. How dare he? You should kick his scrawny ass. Better yet, let me out and I'll kick his scrawny ass.**__"_

"_Shut up, Alice. I couldn't care less right now. Of course Ed is going to be a shitty jerk. He's naturally suspicious. His only concern is if I'm going to get in the way of him and their search for their bodies. I'm more concerned with why the fuck we're here. Truth said he would send me to the universe I belonged in, but there's no way in hell I belong here. Stupid ass must be playing a trick on me." _My other main concern was where the hell my clothes had gone. I was wearing one of those stupid hospital gowns, which meant someone had taken my clothes. Hopefully they wouldn't find my jeans too weird. I was fairly certain they didn't have jeans in Amestris. Maybe they would think they were just some weird fabric from Xing or Creta or something.

"_**I wonder how long you'll be able to keep up this amnesia charade. You're not exactly an actress, Jo.**__" _Alice's skepticism was loud and clear.

"_No, but I'm awesome at lying. I should be able to keep this up for awhile as long as you don't do anything to mess it up, like popping out and threatening to disembowel people."_

"_**I did not threaten to disembowel him. I threatened to rip him apart. There's a difference, idiot. What are we going to do?**__"_

I didn't have to ask her what she meant. _"I don't know. We need to find out why we're here. And, you know I hate to say it, but Ed and Al are probably our best bet to do that."_

"_**Why can't you just be happy that you're alive and accept this? You're in a different world, away from all the shitty people from ours. You could start a new life, and try to be happy for once, instead of following them and risking your life every five seconds.**__"_

"_I thought you'd be excited at the prospect of life risking. I might actually need you for something at some point. But I could do that, except I'd always be wondering why Truth sent us here. I can't just let it go, Alice. I need to know."_

"_**You're ridiculous. Remember, Jo, curiosity killed the cat.**__"_

"_But satisfaction brought it back. Like I was saying, the best way to find out what the fuck is going on is definitely to try and stick with them."_

"_**I agree.**__" _I was surprised to hear her say that. She usually fought with me on everything. _"__**This universe seems to revolve around them for some reason. I'm sure we'll find out eventually.**__"_

Now that we were in agreement about what to do, all that was left was to figure out how to get them to take me with them. But before I could think about that, I had to pee. I had no idea how long it had been able to. Using the bed to stabilize myself, I forced myself to my feet. The room swayed, or maybe it was me, and my body ached in protest, but I was standing. Slowly, I began to shuffle my feet towards the bathroom because I didn't have the energy to lift them with each step.

I stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom once I finished my business. There was a shower in here, but I doubted I would be able to stay standing long enough to use it. Maybe later. I looked absolutely disgusting. My hair was caked in mud and dirt and matted to my head and you could hardly see the skin of my face through all the dirt and grime on it. It made me feel gross, too, so I decided I should at least try to wash it before they came back.

I filled the sink with warm water, hot enough to steam up into my face, and I wet my hands enough to be able to soap them up. I scrubbed the soap up and down my arms, wiping away the filth there, and then scrubbed my hands for a moment, trying to pick the dirt out from under my nails. When my arms and hands finally felt like they were raw from scrubbing, I submerged my hands in the water once again.

I wasn't prepared for the crackle of electricity and for the water in the sink to explode. I stumbled backwards into the wall in surprise, soaked to the bone now, and stared at the sink. "What the fuck?" What had just happened? Sinks didn't throw water at you like that for no reason. And what was that flash of light that happened right before it exploded? It looked like… _"Holy shit… Was that alchemy?"_

~X~

~3rd Person~

"So she has amnesia?"

Ed, Al, and Major Armstrong were sitting in Colonel Roy Mustang's office, filling him in about the girl named Josephine Kittinger. "If that's what you want to believe," Ed said with a touch of sarcasm in his voice.

"Why would she lie, Brother?" Al sighed, getting frustrated with his brother's apparent need to believe the girl was lying. "With her concussion, it's entirely possible that she does have amnesia. It could even be temporary."

Major Armstrong nodded from his spot near Al. "I agree with Alphonse. I'd like to believe she would have told us if she could remember anything. She truly seemed to have no idea what was going on."

"That's the keyword there, Major," Ed argued. "She seemed to have no idea. Maybe she's just that good at lying, to have you believe her. She could be running or hiding from something that she doesn't want to share, and pretending to have amnesia is the only way to keep from telling us."

Roy, sitting at his desk with his chin resting on his hand, couldn't help but shake his head. He was used to this attitude about people from Ed. "Very well then, Fullmetal, why don't you share with us exactly _why_ you find this girl so suspicious?"

Ed jumped at the chance to share his thoughts on the matter, since everyone was so set on arguing with him about it. "For starters, she just came out of nowhere. The doctors said that if her pneumonia had gotten any worse, she would have been dead. What happened that it got so bad? And where did her concussion come from? You saw her, Colonel, when you helped us take her to the hospital. She looked like a ghost. And then she put herself in the way of Scar. Why would she do that?"

"You forget, Fullmetal, that she probably saved your life doing that. If she hadn't distracted Scar from killing you, we might have gotten there too late." Roy couldn't help but smirk there.

Ed frowned and refused to acknowledge that comment. "She could hardly walk. Why would she put herself in more pain to save my life? And her pants were weird. I've never seen pants like that, which means she could be from a different country."

"Or she could just make her own pants, Ed," Al felt the need to argue. People were inventing new things all the time. It was possible that the girl had simply created a new fabric and made pants from it.

"But we'll never know," Ed continued, knowing what Al said was possible but still having more to say. "Because she conveniently has amnesia and can't answer any of our questions. I just think it's weird that this girl who came out of nowhere who is suspicious just happens to have amnesia and can't remember anything."

Roy took in what Ed said and thought about it. On the one hand, the kid was right and there were a lot of things that added up to be strange and the girl couldn't answer any of them. But it was possible that the girl had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time, and actually did have amnesia. He also knew that no matter what decision he made, Ed would find something wrong with it. Finally, after what felt like forever to Ed and Al, he gave them his answer. "Then she'll just have to travel with you, won't she?"

Ed all but jumped out of his seat. "What? What do you mean she has to come with us?"

"Isn't that going to be a bit dangerous?" Al asked, confused.

"Possibly. But look at it this way: if she stays here, Ed is going to be calling all the time and asking how she is and if she remembered anything or if we figured anything out about her. But if she travels with you, then you can keep tabs on her yourself. You can figure out if she's doing anything strange. And, if she actually does have amnesia, then she gets to travel around and maybe it will help her remember something and figure out who she is." There was a tone in his voice that meant this was his final decision, and that there would be no arguing it.

Knowing that tone and that he was probably right, Ed groaned. "Fine, she'll come with us."

~X~

~Kit~

They had been gone for about an hour and all I had done was sit on the hospital bed, still soaked from the sink shower I had taken involuntarily. Whatever I had done had looked like alchemy, but that was impossible. I couldn't do alchemy because that was a thing for this world, and I wasn't from this world. It couldn't have been alchemy. It was just some weird, bizarre occurrence. And that was what I was telling myself.

"_**Sure, let's go with that.**__"_

"_Shut up. If you're so smart, then what the hell happened?"_

The door to the room opened before she could answer me, and the three of them walked in. Ed's eyes widened in surprise when he saw me sitting on the bed. "You're still here."

He was really starting to piss me off now. "You know, Ed, you don't know me. You don't know what I'm going to do. So for you to make judgments that I'm untrustworthy before you even get to know me is pretty fucking rude and it makes you a jerk."

He opened and closed his mouth a few times, seemingly taken back by my feistiness. "Why is it that none of the women in my life can make things easy for me?"

"Kit," Al spoke, once Major Armstrong had set his box on the floor again. "Why are you all wet?"

They all looked at me, now noticing my soaked state, and the brief look Ed had of guilt at treating me like a criminal disappeared. "Well, I felt kind of scungy… so I went to the bathroom and washed my face. But something was wrong with the faucet, because it sort of exploded…"

"_**Because that wasn't weird or suspicious at all, Jo.**__"_

I knew it was, and I wasn't really prepared if they decided to go check the sink out. Thankfully, for me, they didn't seem overly concerned. "So, what happens to me now?" I asked hastily, both to keep them from changing their mind about the sink and also because I knew I had to try and convince them to take me with them.

Ed looked grumpy, probably about whatever had happened with Mustang, so Al took it as his duty to talk. "Colonel Mustang, who is our commanding officer, suggested that the best idea would be for you to come with us."

I couldn't believe what he was saying. "Why?" I asked, instantly skeptical. This seemed too easy.

"We do a lot of traveling, and he thought that your best chance to regain some of your memories or figure out who you are is to travel with us. You might find someone you recognize on the way."

I guess that made sense, if I actually had amnesia. I didn't like the idea that they were basically taking pity on me in my fake state, but this made it easier on me. At least I didn't have to come up with some reason for them to take me along. A thought dawned on me and I looked down at my hospital gown. "I'm going to need more clothes before I go anywhere."

Ed, who was leaning against the wall now, nodded and looked at me, doing his best to give me some semblance of a smile. Though it was obvious he didn't trust me as far as he could throw me. "We'll stop and pick up some things for you before we go anywhere. Don't worry about money. Al and I have more than we need."

"Thanks." I looked at his arm, and then at his missing one, and it occurred to me that I had never asked him about it. Would they find that weird, that I didn't care why he was missing an arm? "Hey, Ed?"

"Yeah?"

"What happened to your arm?"


	4. 4: Meeting Marcoh

Hey guys! Sorry that it's been so long. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten you or this story! The semester was just a lot harder than I had anticipated and I had no time to write, and then finals came and everything was just very hectic. But now it's break and I'm going to try and budget my time better from now on. I've also gotten a new laptop so it should keep me from having to stop writing due to technical issues because that happened all the time. I couldn't write an episode because the media didn't work well, or really at all, on my old laptop and when it did work it was always getting stuck. But now I don't have that problem so yay! Thank you to everyone who reviewed and favorited and followed and all that good stuff. As usual, I will put my review responses after the note in the next little paragraph WHICH YOU SHOULD READ but before that I want to say I'm sorry if there's a massive amount of typos in this. I'm getting used to my new keyboard and typing is a little strange and I have fake nails on for Christmas and it's just a mess and so if there's a bunch of typos, please don't hate me. Happy holidays, everyone!

**Important note** (bolded so that hopefully you guys won't overlook it): I am changing the name of this story because when I titled it Don't Look at Me Like That I had no idea what I would be doing with this story and it was just a title that sounded good at the time and after discussing this chapter with TasiaToxic, we decided that a new title was in order so henceforth this fic will be called Puzzle Pieces. I'll make a note of it on my profile as well but hopefully this doesn't cause too much chaos.

Fanfictionlovewriter809: Laziness isn't bad! Honestly, that's why I take so long to update sometimes. I'm lazy -_- But I see you weren't too lazy to put a crazy amount of faces : ) Thank you for your awesome words and for always reviewing.

Dedmutt: I'm glad you like the length. My chapters always come out crazy longer then I had expected them to and I know some people don't like long chapters but I hate splitting them up. I think it's awkward. This episode is split up but only because it works, between Marcoh's place and the Rockbells. But I will take note that you like long chapters for the future : )

Justaislinn: I can't give too much away but you'll see soon-ish : ) It all makes sense. Trust me, TasiaToxic and I spent so long planning this and made sure all this stuff would make sense so the possible alchemy/maybe not alchemy/I'm not telling will get cleared up and will make sense, I hope

X-Beyond-B: I'm glad you're amused! That's what I aimed for! I have this line I stole from a friend that I really intend on having her use at some point so I hope I can continue to amuse you, my lovely reviewer!

Chapter 4: Meeting Marcoh

~Kit~

I had never realized how slow things were in the reality of the show. When you watch something, I suppose you take it for granted that they skip time to make the show more enjoyable for you. Take crime shows for example. In foster care, I had known a boy who was in love with _Law and Order_. His favorite was the Special Victims one, with that Mariska Hargitay lady who is the only reason I can even tell that series apart from all the other Law and Orders. I liked her name; it was unique. I had never seen the show because it wasn't really my thing, since it wasn't an anime, but one day I asked him out of pure curiosity after he had mentioned something about a trial in one of the episodes about how they worked those trials in the show. Weren't they long and boring? Trials could go on for months, even years, in real life. No, he told me, reluctantly might I add because even back then I'd been an outcast because of Alice, they weren't boring because they cut out basically the entire trial except for the bit they wanted to use in the show. An episode could span a few weeks, and you would never even really realize it because they cut out unimportant bits. Obviously, Fullmetal Alchemist was different because it wasn't a crime show and there were no trials to get through, but even they cut out the unimportant bits that you didn't need to see. Like the bit between Ed getting mauled by Scar and getting on a train to Resembool? Yeah, stuff happened, but you never saw it. And, holy crap, was it slow.

I had been in the hospital for roughly a day and a half. The doctor didn't want to release me because of my concussion and the whole "you could fall into a coma" thing. As if being stuck in a coma wouldn't be the highlight of my life.

"_**Ugh, you're so depressing, Jo. Waah, waah, my life sucks. Waah, I got stuck with a homicidal voice in my head who wants to kill everyone. Waah, boo hoo, your face. Stop whining and be glad you aren't still stuck in that hell hole they call a foster home and that your ass isn't dead yet. I, for one, don't feel like dying.**__"_

"_Shut up, Alice. If I wanted to hear from the peanut gallery, I would ask. Now go and sit in the corner of my mind like a good insane voice."_

Deciding to ignore Alice for the time being, I leaned back against the seat of the train and sighed. My concussion was pretty much gone, which the Doctor had to make sure of since he didn't want to get sued for causing my death by releasing me too early, but I still had an on and off headache. And the monotony of life in Amestris was not helping in any way, shape, or form. Sure, I had thought being in Brotherhood would be the best thing ever, until I actually got here. Do you know how boring it is when Ed and Al _aren't_ doing adventurous, life-threatening things? Boring. Let me rephrase that: fucking incredibly, eye-gougingly, I-want-to-rip-my-face-off-just-to-give-me-something-to-do boring. It's just a lot of Ed and Al going "Where do you think the Philospher's Stone is, Brother?" and "I don't know, Al, let me act like a giant douchebag and putz around for twelve hours with my missing fucking arm and not get poor Kit, who I totally think is a suspicious evil lady, out of the goddamn hospital even though she's clearly fine and then we can move on with our lives but I think it's a better idea to stare at her looking like I'm constipated until she tells me something which she might never do because she says she has amnesia." If you can't tell, Ed is pissing me off. But I'll get to that.

At the moment, we were sitting on the train. The one in that episode that I don't remember the title of because I suck at remembering titles. You know, the episode where they go visit Marcoh and then go see Winry and Pinako. Yeah, that one. Armstrong was still with us and poor Al, who I feel bad for because he's a decent human being unlike his brother, was stuck in cargo with all the animals. Frankly, I would have traded places with Al in a heartbeat. I always got along so much better with animals than people. Ed had his head stuck in the window of our seat talking to Hughes.

Ah, Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes. He was one of my favorite characters, next to Olivier Armstrong who I was incredibly looking forward to meeting at some point, and he was an amazing father and husband, and he was an all-around good guy. But I knew that he died. It sucked having that knowledge because I couldn't share it. I couldn't run the risk of Ed and Al not doing the things they had to do because they didn't want Hughes to die. I didn't want to ruin things or disrupt the time lines or whatever the hell I would be doing if I told people the things I knew. Would I have loved to save Hughes's life? Sure, of course I would and I would have done it in a heartbeat if there were no consequences. But there were, and I couldn't save him. And that meant I couldn't get attached to him. So instead of interacting with him and Ed, I acted like I wasn't feeling well and ignored them.

"_**Why do you care so much that he dies? He's just a person. If it helps, I don't care that he dies. I wish more people would die. I kind of wish Ed would die right now. He's getting on my nerves.**__"_

"_You and me both, Alice. The nerves thing, not the dying thing. I feel like if I'm ever going to figure out what the hell is going on and why I'm here, I need Ed alive. And killing people is bad! Go away."_

Ed had been grinding on my last nerve for quite awhile now. After I had been released from the hospital, I had been forced to go see Roy Mustang so that he could question me. Apparently Ed thought that if Mustang got a hold of me then I would break and drop the amnesia charade, except I've been dealing with people a lot worse than Mustang for a long time so it didn't work. But it must have shaken Ed's confidence in his belief that I was lying if even Mustang couldn't get me to confess, so he stopped acting, somewhat, like I was lying. Then they had to take me shopping for clothes and other necessities before we could go anywhere. But ever since he had found out that I had amnesia, or rather that I was faking having amnesia, he had developed a habit of asking me every half hour or so if I had remember anything yet and then he would get sort of huffy when I said "No, Ed, I haven't remembered anything yet so stop freaking asking" like it was my fault I couldn't summon memories from nowhere. It was starting to suck the guilt out of lying to him, which made me feel better, but he was pissing me off at the same time.

The train lurched suddenly, startling me for a second. I had never been on a train before so this was new to me, and I wasn't used to the feeling of it. Armstrong smiled at me, but I didn't really feel like returning it.

"Okay, you guys have a safe trip. Stop in next time you make it to central!" Hughes said as he saluted Ed and Major Armstrong. Then, turning to look at me, he dropped the salute and smiled. "And you, Josephine, take care of yourself. Don't let Ed push you too hard, alright? If you ever need anything, just give me a call."

I cringed at the use of my first name, something I really could not stand, and gave a small nod but nothing else to acknowledge that I understood him. It was hard for me to understand why he was being so nice. He didn't know me. At least Ed was cynical and suspicious of me. Annoying as it was to have him asking me if I remembered anything every thirty minutes, I could understand. I _was_ suspicious. But Hughes had taken one look at me and decided I was his new friend and I didn't get it. For all he knew, I was Barry the Chopper. Or the female version, whatever that would be. Betty the Chopper? Either way, I could have been a mass murderer, which I'm sure would have made Alice happy, but Hughes had no way of knowing if I was or wasn't, and yet he was instantly ready to invite me into his home. Why?

Hughes gave one last smile as Ed, with his remaining arm, and Armstrong saluted him. The train pulled forward and Hughes slowly slid out of sight. With a sigh, I began to lean back into the seat again, planning to take a nap, but I noticed Ed staring at me with his narrowed eyes once again. "Remember anything yet?"

With a snort, I closed my eyes. "Shut up, Ed. I promise you if I remember anything I'll blast confetti out of my ass, okay? Until that point, leave me alone."

It was going to be a long ride to Marcoh's town. Of course, they didn't know we would be stopping there yet so I couldn't mention that either. This was harder than I thought.

~X~

~3rd Person~

Lieutenant Colonel Hughes waited until the train had left his sight before turning around and beginning the walk out of the station. He was glad to see that Ed and Al had taken the girl with them, but he had to admit that he was worried. The girl seemed off in a big way, but that was probably because of the amnesia. He knew that Ed was suspicious of the girl and believed she could be lying about her memories in order to protect herself, but he had a good feeling about the girl.

Hughes had only gone a few steps when he saw a familiar head of dark hair running towards him. "Roy!"

Colonel Mustang stopped in front of him, looking somewhat out of breath. "The train, did it leave already?"

Hughes grinned and patted his friend on the shoulder. "You came to see them off! See, I told you that you cared about the boys more than you let on. But you missed them. It just left."

Mustang rolled his eyes at Hughes's naivety. "No, Hughes, that's not why I'm here. I just got word that the sink in the bathroom of the room that girl, Josephine Kittinger, was staying in at the hospital was blown up. It was destroyed and several people said it reminded them of what Scar does to objects around him. I think the girl could be dangerous."

Hughes took a moment to consider the information and the serious look on his comrade's face. It was compelling evidence against the girl, and Mustang had valid reasons to be concerned, but Hughes couldn't bring himself to feel the same way. "I understand where you're coming from, Roy, but Josephine saved Ed's life. If she was a monstrous murderer like Scar, she wouldn't have done that. And if she was on the run from Scar, he would have killed her or she wouldn't have stuck around to help Ed. Why would she have saved Ed if Scar was a threat to her? How do you know it was even her that destroyed the sink? It could have happened after she left. And are you sure the sink didn't just fall apart?"

Mustang sighed, scratching his head. "You're probably right, Hughes. Maybe I'm just overreacting." He didn't say this to his friend, but he also didn't want to admit that he had questioned the girl and believed her to be telling the truth about her amnesia and that he really didn't want to be wrong about the call he made.

~X~

~Kit~

I woke up with a start as the train slowed to a stop, lurching once more. Looking out the window, I didn't really recognize the place but I thought it looked like the town Marcoh lived in. I could not remember the name of that town, no matter how hard I tried, and Alice refused to even try and help me think of it. She was being snarky today.

"_**Bitch.**__"_

"_See? Snarky."_

"_**Well, maybe I wouldn't be if someone would let me out every now and then.**__"_

"_Why, so you can kill people? No thanks. I'm the one who gets arrested for it. You can stay the hell in there."_

Ed had fallen asleep, unsurprisingly, on the ride and I had settled in to take a nap. Armstrong was perfectly content to let me relax and I appreciated that. Now that I was awake, I knew that it would only be a moment before I was forced to go running around town looking for Marcoh.

The stopping of the train woke Ed as well and he yawned before giving me that old familiar look and opening his mouth. "Did you-"

"No, I did _not_ remember anything yet and I swear to holy hell if you don't stop asking me that every five fucking minutes I will give _you_ something to remember, Edward." His eyes widened in surprise at my response and I snapped my mouth shut, because that wasn't me who said that.

"_Fucking hell, Alice! Did I say you could come out! No! Stop it!"_

"_**Sorry, not sorry, Jo. Your shield dropped for a second and he was pissing me off and you weren't going to say it so I had to. Maybe now he'll stop. It's better to be feared.**__"_

Before Ed or Armstrong could say anything about what they thought was _my_ outburst, Armstrong turned his head to look at a man passing by the window and then stood up real fast to stick his head out, effectively squishing Ed against the wall of the train. I couldn't help but feel a little pleased. Ed kind of deserved it.

"Doctor Marcoh!" Armstrong shouted out the window. Ed, having recuperated from getting smooshed, popped his head out underneath Armstrong's to see what was going on. "Doctor Marcoh, that is you, isn't it? It's me, Alex Louise Armstrong from Central!"

I didn't have to look to know that Marcoh had just taken off running and I took a deep breath, knowing that I would be getting up in a minute.

"Friend of yours?" Ed asked, momentarily forgetting about me.

Armstrong nodded, looking confused and serious. "He's from Central. A talented state alchemist. He was researching into possible medical applications of alchemy. But after the Ishvalan Civil War, he went missing, just disappeared."

Ed stood up, looking at the major with a nod. "Let's go. A guy like this doctor might know some useful things about bio alchemy."

Through the whole thing I had to try and put a confused and interested look on my face to pretend like I didn't know what was going on. It was harder than I thought it would be. To save myself the stress of trying to act like this was all new to me and also the aggravation of spending forever trying to find Doctor Marcoh when I knew exactly where he was, I decided to ask, "Can I just stay here at the train station? I really don't feel up to gallivanting all over town for forever."

The look Ed gave me was clearly one of mistrust and not believing that I wouldn't disappear and never come back. "It could take five minutes, for all you know. But, no, you can't stay here by yourself."

It really wasn't worth the effort to argue with him, so I groaned and got up, following Ed and Armstrong off the train and into the town.

~X~

Once we had gotten Al from the animal hold of the train, we began to wander around town looking for Marcoh, until Armstrong had the brilliant idea of drawing Marcoh's face and showing that around. Again, something that only took two minutes in the show took much longer in real life. Once his picture was drawn, he began showing it around to villagers. I had to say I was pretty jealous of his art skills. I sucked at drawing and I wish I had skills like Armstrong.

"_**I can draw. I'm awesome at it. My favorite drawings are the gory ones.**__"_

"_I didn't know you could draw, Alice. If I had known that, I would have had you teach me or something. I'm not sure how that would have worked, but we could have figured something out. Fifteen years together and you never thought to mention you have a talent besides killing people?"_

"_**You never asked, jerk.**__"_

Finally, one of the townspeople pointed out that the picture looked like their Doctor Mauro, and then we continued wandering to confirm that we were looking for the same guy. By this time, I was exhausted. I hadn't been sleeping well because the absurdity of this situation was just too much for my brain to take and allow me to sleep, and I was still feeling crappy and sore from everything I had been through. My flu was finally going away, but it was still there somewhat. Overall, I was ready to flop over on the ground and not get up again.

I wasn't sure how long we'd been walking for when Ed moved to walk at my side and started talking. "Are you alright, Kit? You don't look so good."

I couldn't help but snort and it took me a moment to realize that he was honestly asking if I was okay. "Why do you care?" It kind of blurted out before I could stop myself from asking. "I don't get why any of you care at all about me. Especially you, when all you seem to care about is whether or not I remember anything about myself."

He frowned and stuffed his hands in the pockets of his red jacket. "Look, Kit… I'm sorry I've been hounding you so much about it. You clearly don't remember anything, and you're still under the weather, and I'm sorry if I've been a jerk. You don't deserve that after what you've been through. I never did thank you for saving my life back there with Scar, so thanks."

I nodded to show that I heard him but I just didn't have the energy to say anything, not that I knew what to say anyway. I was so confused by his attitude towards me. I appreciated that he realized he was being an ass, but I couldn't understand why he was being nice. Just like Hughes, he had no way of knowing who I was or what I had done. Ugh, people were confusing. This is why I liked animals better. It was easy to tell if a dog liked you and their affection was unconditional.

Finally, we made it to Marcoh's house. I made sure to hang back on the staircase to the front door since I knew that Marcoh pulled a gun on Ed when he opened the door, and I didn't want to run the risk of getting shot if it didn't work out like the show.

Ed knocked and opened the door, right into the barrel of Marcoh's gun, which Ed dodged like he was supposed to. I let out a breath and began climbing the stairs since it was now safe. "Alright, tell me what you two are doing here!" Marcoh demanded, still holding the gun. "Have you come to take me back?"

"Please, Doctor, calm down," Armstrong said slowly, his one hand up in a peaceful gesture while his other hand still held Al in a box on his shoulder.

Of course, Marcoh was still freaking out and so was Ed, after getting shot at. I suppose it was understandable from the viewpoint of a person who didn't know what was going on. "I don't ever want to go back! Anything but that."

"That's not it. Please listen."

"So, you're here to silence me then! I won't be tricked by you!"

Tired of Marcoh's reluctance to hear him by that point, Armstrong grabbed Al's box with both hands and chucked it at Marcoh, knocking the man off his feet. Al went flying and Ed looked appalled, which was just as awesome as it was in the show.

With Marcoh out of the way, I shoved past Ed and Armstrong and wandered right into the house. "Sorry to barge in, Doc, but I'm exhausted and I don't have time to stand around while you losers figure out your shit. Also, I really have to pee so where's your bathroom?"

Once the man stood up, he pointed towards it and I left to use it. I knew what happened in this scene and I didn't really care if I missed it. Gross as it may be, I avoided the sink. I still wasn't sure what the hell had happened with the sink in the hospital and I wasn't keen on blowing Marcoh's up. Marcoh's place was small so I could hear them talking from inside the bathroom and when I exited to join them, I found a chair for me at the table between Ed and Armstrong.

"I couldn't handle it anymore," Marcoh as saying as I sat down. They were all too busy listening to Marcoh to really pay me any attention, which was fine, so I just sat and crossed my arms. It's not like this conversation was all that interesting. "Order or no order, to have to dirty my hands researching that thing was too much." It had never occurred to me until that moment that the way he pronounced researched bothered me. Maybe I should stop being so picky.

"What thing is that?" Ed asked. Oh, how I wished I could just sum up the whole thing for them and get on our way.

"It took so many lives… During the Civil War, so many innocent died because of it." The look on Marcoh's face was pained and it was obvious that he didn't want to talk about this. I still wasn't quite sure why he ever spilled the beans to them. I mean, yeah Armstrong threw a box with a suit of armor at him but it's not like Marcoh had to talk to them, or us. I don't know. Maybe I was missing something. "I could spend my whole life trying and still never atone for the things I've done. But I had to do something, so I came here to be a doctor, to save lives instead of taking them." I had to hold in my scoff, because I was the only person who knew that pretty much right after we left Marcoh would be kidnapped by the Homunculi and never really get to be a doctor here after us. Why did things like that always happen after Ed and Al left? It worked for the show, but it was awfully coincidental.

I know it was bad to step on Armstrong's line, but this entire thing was going so slowly and I had such a headache. "Just spit it out already, old man," I snapped sort of. I didn't miss the sharp look Ed gave me, though. "What were you working on?"

"The Philosopher's Stone."

Everyone around the table gasped, and I tried my hardest to look surprised but I really just didn't care. All I wanted was some sleep. Luckily, everyone was so busy staring at Marcoh in disbelief that they didn't notice my lack of surprise.

"The top secret research materials I took were my research documents," Marcoh continued, as if everyone just hadn't spent five minutes gasping. "And the stone itself."

Ed partially stood, getting that somewhat crazed look he often got when something big happened. "Do you mean you still have it? It's here?"

With a grave look, Marcoh sighed and reached into the inner pocket of his jacket. From it, he drew out a small clear bottle with a red liquid inside of it. To answer everyone's obvious question, and Ed's verbal one about how a liquid could be a stone, Marcoh opened the bottle and tilted it so that the liquid poured out into the table and immediately formed a small, pebble-sized ball.

I had to admit it looked much cooler in reality than in the show, but that wasn't what bothered me most about the Philosopher's Stone. The moment it left the bottle, it felt like my entire being was being drawn towards it. Like a vacuum, something inside me was being sucked in to it, leaving me with a hollow sort of feeling. I could feel Alice in my mind, pushing against the barriers of my head, and it took more effort than I had to keep the walls I had built to keep her from escaping and taking over up. What was this feeling? My hand twitched and when I looked down it was on the table, but I couldn't remember putting it there. Something in me screamed that I should take the stone. And I wanted to… It was right there… Red, and shiny, and necessary, and whole…

Suddenly Ed's hand slammed down on the table, snapping me back to reality. I felt dizzy and my head ached from Alice fighting against it, and the thud of Ed's hand on the wood made me wince. Ed was too busy watching the stone, but Armstrong must have noticed. "Miss Kit, are you alright?"

At Armstrong's words, Ed looked at me and frowned. "You're pale. What's wrong? Did you remember something?"

I groaned as I stood up, desperately needing to get out of the room. "I'm fine. I just have a headache and I'm a little nauseas and you slamming things doesn't help. I just need some fresh air…" I didn't wait for Ed's okay to leave, and just started walking to the door, wobbling some. He didn't try to stop me, not that I would have stopped, but he was too close to his precious stone to care much I supposed.

Once I was outside the door, I felt a little better. I wasn't sure what the hell had happened back there with the stone. I could chalk it up to not feeling well, but I was sure it was something more than that. I just didn't know what. I couldn't think about it right then, though, because my head was trying to split itself open. I sat on the bottom step of Marcoh's stairs and placed my head in my hands, trying to will my headache away.

I wasn't sure how much time had passed when a voice sounded from in front of me. "Are you okay, lady?"

Lifting my head, I saw a young girl standing in front of me, holding an unopened lollipop in her hands. Her blonde hair was long and braided over her shoulder, and her big blue eyes looked at me with an innocent shine. She was cute. "I'm fine, kid," I tried to say as nicely as I could. I wasn't keen on being a jerk to kids who didn't know me.

The girl tilted her head, but never stopped smiling at me. She was missing one of her front two teeth. "Are you here so the doctor can fix you?"

I sighed. I wasn't sure why, but I began talking to this little girl. "Sorry, sweetie, but there is no fixing me. I'm pretty much broken beyond repair and I always kind of have been."

"Doctor Mauro can fix anyone!" she argued immediately, a frown forming on her small face. She plopped down on the step next to me. "Even you!" She looked down at the lollipop in her hand and, after a moment of what was obvious by the look on her face hard consideration, held it out to me. "Maybe this will cheer you up. If you're not here to see the doctor, then why are you here?"

I was going to reject her lollipop offer and tell her to keep it for herself, but the look on her face was so sweet and hopeful, like she honestly wanted to cheer me up, that I couldn't tell her no. So I took it and placed it in the pocket of my pants. "I'm waiting for my friends to finish yelling and then…" I stopped myself, having realized what I'd just said, and then I began to correct myself. "No, sorry, they aren't my friends. They're really just people I'm tagging along with. I don't have any friends, so I'm not really sure what to call them. But when they finish yelling, we'll be leaving on the train."

When I said I didn't have any friends, the girl's eyes went wide and I swear she almost started crying. "I'll be your friend! I'm Alicia. What's your name?"

Alicia? I could hear Alice laughing in my head about how similar their names were. "Kit," I said once Alice quieted down. But I still didn't understand. "Why would you want to be my friend? You hardly know me."

She put her tiny little hand on mine and smiled at me again. "Because my mommy says that people are like puzzle pieces. Sometimes you get lost and don't know where you fit in, and you have to count on the other pieces around you to show you the way and help you find your place. I can be one of your puzzle pieces, because no one should ever feel lost and alone."

I opened my mouth to speak and say something about how it was a nice philosophy, but I couldn't find the words. I was speechless, for once. And as much as I wanted, out of habit, to tell her that I was a lost cause and even that wonderful philosophy wouldn't work for me, I couldn't. This little girl, who had only just met me, was offering to be my friend and trying to help me find my way. And maybe, just once, I wouldn't be the cynic. Maybe, for once in my life, I could try and find _something_ that wasn't dark and terrible in everything. And I found all the sarcastic and negative things I was going to say about her puzzle piece theory falling away, and the only thing I had left was, "Thank you, Alicia."

I heard Marcoh's front door open above me and I looked up to see Ed and Armstrong, with Al, walk out onto the stairs. Ed looked sad and serious, having been rejected by Marcoh, but tried to give me something of a smile when he saw me sitting there. I turned to say goodbye to the girl, but she understood without me having to say it. She stood up and, before I could do anything about it, she threw her arms around me and hugged me. It only lasted a second, but it was something of a miracle. I hadn't been hugged by anyone in… I didn't even know. "I hope you find your puzzle pieces, Kit." With that, the little girl ran off.

Feeling my pocket to make sure I had the lollipop, I stood up and walked alongside Ed as we left Marcoh's house. Ed didn't ask about the little girl, and I didn't ask about the stone. After a moment's silence, he looked at me and gave a small laugh as he asked, "So, did you remember anything?"

I almost snapped, until I realized the laugh and the smile on his face meant he was joking. Jokes, something else I wasn't used to, unless they were made at my expense. "No," I said after a second, and I was almost surprised to find that I was smiling too. "I didn't remember anything, but I learned something instead."

He was confused, after all we had only been separated for a few minutes. "What did you learn?"

I couldn't help but grin. The little girl's words had managed to create a small bubble of hope inside me. "Life is like a puzzle," I said, and I left it at that. I could tell he was still confused so I laughed, enjoying the moment. "I think you would be one of those annoying middle pieces that no one likes."


End file.
